This disclosure relates generally to electronic communications and, more particularly, to a wireless position location and transfer system.
In many applications it is advantageous to have the ability to determine a position of a mobile device. Position location may be helpful for navigation, tracking, or location based services. Regulatory mandates and advances in the performance of portable electronics, particularly advances in the performance of processors, have added to the demand for using position location with a variety of wireless devices.
As just one example, it may be desirable to know the position of a wireless device within a building or other structure. In cases of emergency, the location of a cellular phone may be used to direct police, firefighters, or paramedics to where they are needed with a high level of accuracy. This is the aim of the E911 system as mandated in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Unfortunately, position location is not universally available. Often, in a group of wireless devices, there are some devices which know their position and some devices which do not. Position-unaware devices may lack the necessary hardware, or they may be unable to obtain a fix of their position due to an insufficient satellite visibility. In some cases, wireless devices are moved from place to place and must be reprogrammed at each new location in order to remain up-to-date. Whatever the source, these deficiencies reduce the usefulness of wireless devices.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a position location system, method, and apparatus that enable position location for groups of wireless devices some of which may not have a built-in position location capability.